Philippe IV of Burgundy
Philippe IV '''(1420 - Present), called ''the Bold'','' ''is the current King of Burgundy of the House of Bourgogne, reigning since 1420. A strong and centralising ruler, he maintains a strong grip over the feudal vassals of his kingdom. He, however, maintains a fierce conflict between Burgundian Kings and the French over the Burgundian lands. His diplomatic prowess has kept his nation stable for many years, and continues to do so even today. He transformed Burgundy into a centre of renaissance culture in France, and brought in a new era of culture and growth in Burgundian society. Biography '''Birth and Following Events Philippe IV Auguste was born on April 3rd, 1420 at the Palais des Rois de Bourgogne, Dijon, to King Jean III of Burgundy and his wife, Queen Blanche d'Artois. At the time of his birth, the entire city of Dijon was nearing collapse in the midst of the Battle on the Palace Walls. ''This, the French attempt to storm the Palais des Rois, was devastating for the city. As nobles flocked around the palace in terror and all semblance of organisation completely fell apart, it seemed as though the end was near for the city. The exhausted, demoralised Burgundian garrison at the Palais was barely holding the wall at the same time as Philippe's birth was occuring. These events would have a traumatising effect on all present, though especially the young Queen Blanche. She would fall into a terribly unstable state, though thankfully the child was born strong and healthy. The French advance was finally repelled by a massive volunteer peasant legion, along with what was left of the Dijon garrison, encircling the French forces. No surrender was accepted, and the battle turned into almost a guerrilla campaign through the streets of Dijon. Every last French man in Dijon was slaughtered that day, in a show of Burgundian resilience against the almost constant French aggression against them. Philippe's mother, Blanche, would die just three days after his birth from the stress caused by the birth combined with the Battle on the Palace Walls. '''Early Childhood' The young newborn child was left without anyone appointed to care for him, though sympathetic maids and other staff would step in with what little money and resources they could scrape up to raise the child. A famous quip was coined, when the of people Dijon began to yell, "Mon dieu, nous avons plus d'argent que le Palais!" ''(My God, we have more money than the palace!), which was brought up whenever someone would complain about their own poverty, although poverty continued to run rampant. Starving masses in Dijon would often gather outside the Palais to beg for any scraps of food they could have, and the staff would often try to find anything at all they could distribute to relieve the suffering of the peasants. Valuable assets from inside the palace were often sold on or melted down to bring in emergency funds for the struggling populace. The cost to maintain Jean III's large army was also becoming unmanageable. Towards the end of the war, Burgundy itself was nearing total and economic collapse. Citizens migrated to German principalities in search of better opportunities and more stability. The young Philippe, meanwhile, was being brought up on scraps. Unpaid servants, merely out of dedication to the ancient Burgundian monarchy, did everything in their power to give the Dauphin a decent upbringing. The palace was almost a shell, mostly gutted of finery to pay for the troops and to help feed the starving peasantry and pieces of the walls completely broken apart by the ''Battle on the Palace Walls. There was almost nothing left, and eventually the capital had to resort to begging for supplies from noblemen and landowners. Only few would respond to the cause. Most of the food and crops in Burgundy were going to the army. Now, Dijon was starving out, despite not being under siege at all. Category:Monarchs of Burgundy Category:House of Bourgogne Category:15th Century Births Category:Births in Dijon